The US Marine Corps has ruled that no charges will be filed against a marine in the fatal shooting of a wounded and unarmed Iraqi in a Falluja mosque last November in an incident shown in a television pool report, a spokesman has said.

After a five-month investigation, the Marine Corps determined that the marine corporal fired in self-defence and will not face court martial, spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel T V Johnson said.

NBC News reported earlier that the decision was based partly on the fact that marines had been warned fighters were feigning death and booby-trapping bodies and that the corporal apparently feared for his life when he fired the shots.

Second incident investigated

The Marine was seen in images on the videotape that was shared with other news organisations. NBC said a second marine remains under investigation for shooting another unarmed man in the mosque.

The US military opened the investigation into possible war crimes after the incident was recorded by an NBC television crew embedded with the marines.

The Iraqi was one of five wounded left in the mosque after the marines fought their way into Falluja, then held by Iraqi resistance.

General demoted over Iraq prisons abuse

The biggest head to roll so far in the Iraqi prisons scandal is one-star General Janis Karpinski, who has been demoted to Colonel by her Commander-in-Chief President Bush.

The army reserve General is the first high level officer to be disciplined for what army leaders are describing as a "seriously lacking" job performance. She was also reprimanded for hiding a previous conviction for shoplifting. Last year Karpinsky said she was being used as a "convenient scapegoat".

The army added it had also taken action against a number of other officers, including one Colonel, four Lieutenant Colonels, three Majors, 10 Captains, and six Lieutenants. Five of the junior officers face criminal charges.

Until now critics have been angry that prosecutions and court marshals have fallen on non-commissioned officers and ordinary soldiers, the most prominent of which has been Private Lynndie England. Her trial has just been stopped after witnesses in her defence invalidated her guilty pleas to seven charges in a deal for a reduced sentence.

PHOTO CAPTION

US Marines use a building for cover during fierce clashes inside Fallujah on November 2004. (AFP)